


Kiddy Section

by MalcolmReynolds



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Ice Cream, Kitty Section, Lukanette, if you squint hard enough - Freeform, little kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:06:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26132395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MalcolmReynolds/pseuds/MalcolmReynolds
Summary: Marinette realizes that she's actually met Luka before, many years ago
Comments: 12
Kudos: 61





	Kiddy Section

**Author's Note:**

> For the MLWeeklyPrompts challenge of Ice Cream

Kitty Section was gathered around the kitchen of the Dupain-Cheng residence, taking turns cranking the ice cream machine that Marinette had pulled out, while she was piping dough balls onto a cookie sheet. They were making profiteroles, like cream puffs, Marinette had explained, only with ice cream, and she’d tasked the band members with churning the ice cream while she and Mylene piped the dough. 

Luka had the cylinder in his hands, mindlessly turning the crank as he glanced over at Juleka. “Hey, Jule. Do you remember the summer Ma made us take cooking lessons? I’m pretty sure we made something like this. I definitely remember churning ice cream.”

Juleka offered him a look that said he was an idiot, but since that wasn’t an unusual occurrence, Luka ignored it. “And there was that tiny little girl who I’m pretty sure would have kicked my ass if I’d gone near you. I don’t know what I did to her, but she wouldn’t let me anywhere near you.”

“She was eight, same as me.” Juleka grinned wickedly, her eyes darting to where Marinette and Mylene stood. “She’s still tiny, and can still kick your ass.” Juleka snorted and rolled her eyes. “The baking lessons were here, dummy.”

He heard a squeak, and turned to see a very red Marinette trying to clean up dough from where she’d squeezed the pastry bag too hard while her gaze darted back and forth between him and Juleka. “You were the kid who sat in the back and stared at Juleka all day?”

Rose clapped her hands, gleefully. “I want to hear this story!”

Mylene looked at the heavily blushing Marinette. “Me too, if you want to tell it.”

Marinette looked at Luka, who was watching her carefully, then at Juleka, who was doing her best not to laugh. 

“So my parents always set aside a week during summer vacation so they can teach a kids baking class. They take 15 kids, and because there’s an odd number, I get to partner with someone. This one year, I was really excited because I walked in and saw Juleka in the class.”

While she spoke, Marinette gestured around with the pastry bag, until Mylene took it from her, continuing to pipe it out onto the cookie sheet. Juleka had snatched the ice cream churn from her brother, mostly so that she had something to do with her hands when it became her turn to tell the story. 

“I walked into the bakery, and saw Juleka by the door, arguing with this bigger kid, with dark hair and a frown who kept trying to grab her arm. I heard Juleka tell him to leave her alone and then walk away, and it looked like she was trying to hide from him, so I promised myself I would protect her from him all week.”

Marinette laughed as she glanced up at Luka through her eyelashes. “I didn’t realize you were her brother. I’m sorry I was so mean to you.”

Luka just laughed. “I get it now. It was funny at the time.” He ran his hands through his hair. “But you were a little scary, too. I didn’t dare talk to Juleka, afraid you’d come after me.”

When she playfully swatted at his arm, Luka clutched it close. “Ow! See?”

Marinette just stuck her tongue out at him, blushing hard as his gaze lingered on her mouth.

When Juleka cleared her throat, Luka blushed slightly, but continued. “I remember it, because it was weird. Ma made us do all these classes every summer. We’ve done everything from embroidery to welding. That year our theme was domestic skills. Cooking, baking, knitting, all that kind of stuff.” 

He paused, looking over at his sister who nodded slightly. “Juleka didn’t like to be left alone at anything. Mostly she stayed by my side, so when we walked into the bakery, and she said she didn’t need me to be right there embarrassing her…” Luka trailed off and Juleka had the decency to blush. “I was surprised and trying to find out what was different about this place.”

Luka gestured to the kitchen in which they all sat, Juleka hiding behind her curtain of hair, although her lips curled up at the memory. Ivan, now in charge of the ice cream churn, watching Mylene as she held the oven open for Marinette to slide the dough balls in. Rose was leaning forwards, elbows on the table, chin resting in her hands, eyes sparkling at the story. “And now you know!” She chirped.

Grinning at her, Luka’s eyes wandered back to Marinette. “Yep. But I didn’t know Jule had a friend in the class, and I swear you dwarfed her even then. I thought she was a few years younger than you.” 

He chuckled as Marinette glared at him. “Anyway, this kid walked over and practically dragged Juleka to a chair. Juleka didn’t try to pull away, so I sat in the back, watching. Every time I’d look over, either Juleka was smirking at me, or the kid, uh, Marinette, was glaring at me.”

Marinette had come to perch on the stool next to him and she covered her face as the tips of her ears turned red. “I didn’t know you were her brother. I just thought you were some random kid trying to pick on Juleka.” Marinette’s eyes turned towards the counter. “Juleka was shy, and not everyone was nice to her when she wouldn’t talk to them.”

Her eyes cut to Juleka. “Although, I didn’t know Juleka even had a brother until the music festival last year. And even then your mom was the one who told me!”

Ivan shrugged speaking up for the first time. His hands were free, and Marinette saw that Rose was taking a turn enthusiastically cranking the ice cream maker. “I didn’t know until I joined Kitty Section.” 

Mylene nodded. “And I met Luka through Ivan.”

“I knew!” Rose chirped proudly.

Juleka snorted. “That’s because you slept over before we got that partition up in our room.” She looked at her brother through her curtain of hair. “Besides, Rose, you never told anyone, either!”

Luka turned to Juleka with mock outrage. “It’s like you're embarrassed by me or something.”

“Well, when you put it like that…” Juleka mumbled before grinning wickedly at her brother. “I am.” She brushed her bangs out of her face and smiled a saccharine smile. “You’re such an idiot.”

“Guess it runs in the family.” Luka smiled at her just as sweetly, and the whole group cracked up laughing. 

“Anyway. By the next week’s class, Juleka was back to normal, and I completely forgot about the whole thing until we started making the profiteroles.”

Marinette slipped the ice cream churn out of Rose’s grasp, pulling out the inner cylinder and placing it in the freezer, before digging out an old photo album her parents kept. She flipped pages until she came to one particular page, where she squealed with joy, but then gasped. “Oh no! Juleka, I’m so sorry!”

She tugged the photo out of its protective sleeve and lay it on the table between all of them. Front and center was a girl who was clearly a much younger Marinette, hair cut short and smile shining at the camera. Next to her, a girl who was clearly Juleka was turned towards her, a curtain of hair hiding her face. “Was that my fault?” Marinette asked. “I told you to smile right before the picture was taken.”

“Nah.” Juleka shook her head. “Photo curse. You broke that, though, remember?” 

Rose was still looking at the picture. “There’s Luka!” She pointed at a dark haired boy, a couple of kids away who was looking at his sister and not the camera. Neither of the Couffaines had dyed hair at that point, and while they looked different with their jet black hair, Luka was easily recognizable, his limbs just starting to grow faster than his body. They were scanning the picture for anyone else they might recognize, when the timer on the oven went off. 

Hopping up, Marinette went to pull the trays from the oven, setting them aside to cool, before checking on the state of the ice cream. They chatted about people they knew, and how they’d met, conversation swirling around them, and not centering on music for a change. Soon, they were all enjoying the profiteroles, and Marinette had slid back on the stool next to Luka. 

“I really am sorry for glaring at you then. I had no idea you were just looking out for her!”

“It’s really alright, Marinette.” Luka laughed. “I promise not to hold it against you. Actually, I always appreciated that Juleka found someone else who was so willing to look out for her.” Sliding his arm around her shoulders, he hugged Marinette to his side. “Of course, you look out for everyone. I don’t think we can ever say thank you enough for that.”

Marinette looked up at Luka in shock, and he just winked at her, and slid his hand back, ticking off point on his fingers. “Ivan and Mylene, the photo curse, defending Kitty Section against Bob Roth…”

She relaxed against his side again and smiled up at Luka. “Like you do any different!”

They just smiled, letting the conversation of their friends lap against them, leaning into each other as they took strength in knowing the other would always be there.


End file.
